Canvas-stretcher



. angles of the frame for separating the wood at ner, and at the edge or the edges of the bridge- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. v

. DAVID GRANT SMYTH, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

CANVAS-STRETCH ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 373,156I dated November 15, 1887.

Application led December 24, 1886. Serial No. 222,465. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID GRANT SMYTH, of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented an Improvementiu Stretchers for Artists Canvas. ofwhich the following is a specification.

Artists canvas is usually secured at its edges to a frame, and Wedges are introduced at the the corners and stretching the canvas. Difculty, however, arises in properly framing the corners together, and also in fitting the Wedges,

as these Wedges usually are introduced at right angles to each other.

My invention is for simplifying the construction of the stretcher and for supporting the wood at the corners, so that the canvas is kept in the proper plane and the same does not become buckledV or distorted at the corners.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows one corner of the stretcher or frame partially in section, and Fig. 2 is a section at the line The frame-pieces A B are of suitable width and thickness, and the corners are united by sawing off the wood at an angle ofk forty five degrees, and in the wood, at the end of each of the frame-pieces, a deep and comparatively wide saw-cutis made, into whichis introduced a plate, C, preferably of wood, fitting the sawcuts tightLv, and forming a bridge-piece with the grain of the Wood perpendicular, or nearly so, to the beveled ends of the frame-pieces, so that this bridge-piece forms a reliable connecting-plate to maintain the parts of the frame properly inline with each other at each corplate a wedge or wedges,.D E, are introduced, with their broader ends standing inwardly toward the center of the frame or stretcher.

The canvas, F, is to be tacked around the edges of this frame when the mitered ends of the frame pieces abut against each other, and then the wedges D E are driven in more or less to separate the mitered ends ofthe frame-pieces and stretch the canvas to the desired extent.

This construction is simple, very cheap, and reliable, and the corners are strengthened by the bridgeplates, so that they are not liable to injury, and the canvas will be stretched straight and uniformly.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with the stretcherframe having beveled ends and saw-cuts in the same, of the bridge-pieces formed of plates of wood with the grain at right angles, or nearly so, to the beveled ends, and the wedges Within the saw-cuts and between the edges of the bridge-pieces and the bottoms of the saw-cuts, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with thestretcherframehaving beveled endsandincisionsinsuch ends, of bridge-pieces in such incisions and acting to unite the framepieces together at the corners, and wedges acting against the edges of the bridge pieces, substantially as set forth. 3. The combination, with the stretcherframes having beveled ends and incisions in such ends, of bridge-pieces fitting tightly into such incisions to unite the frame-pieces together, and wedges to act in stretchingthe canvas, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 16th day of December, A. D. 1886.

DAVID GRANT SMYTH. 

